The shape of renewable energy in Arizona is taking center stage in the fight for three open seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission. Republican candidates -- incumbent Bob Stump, former state lawmaker Bob Burns and Susan Bitter Smith, former president of the Central Arizona Project and former vice mayor of Scottsdale -- say they would try to keep utility prices stable while working toward the state-mandated goal of having 15 percent of Arizona's energy coming from renewable sources by 2025.
Republican candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission violated the rules by using hundreds of thousands of dollars that were meant to be spent in the primary to go after their Democratic general election opponents, the agency that runs the state's public finance system agreed today. Candidates who get public financing are barred from using primary funds for general election purposes.
After marijuana was discovered in a bathroom in a restricted area of the Arizona Corporation Commission offices, Chairman Gary Pierce today asked his fellow commissioners to consent to drug tests and a search of their offices by a drug-sniffing dog. Since the material was found in the wing (where the commissioners' offices are located), I feel the need to prove to the best of my ability that my decisions at the commission are not made under the influence of marijuana, and that I am not responsible for its presence in the...bathroom" Pierce said.
A likely Republican sweep of the three open Corporation Commission seats means the commission that oversees the state's utility industry probably will consist entirely of Republicans starting in January. Ballots continue to be counted, and Democrats trail by significant margins but still hold out hope that the results will change.
The three Democratic candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission warned voters Thursday that if their Republican opponents portray themselves as backing solar energy, don't believe it. If Arizonans want a Corporation Commission dedicated to expanding the role of solar power in the state, they argued, Democratic incumbent commissioners Sandra Kennedy and Paul Newman and Democratic challenger Marcia Busching must be elected.
A panel of senators today approved legislation to bar the Arizona Corporation Commission from adopting renewable energy standards that are more stringent than what is currently in place. Many consider the bill an attempt by lawmakers to assert control over the state's energy policy, but critics said it infringes on the commission's constitutional authority to set rates for public utility companies.
Legislation aimed at barring the Arizona Corporation Commission from adopting renewable energy standards that are more stringent than what is currently in place is an unconstitutional power grab by lawmakers, the Commission's lead attorney says. In a legal opinion sent to the five commissioners Wednesday, Corporation Commission Chief Legal Counsel Janice Alward wrote that a strike-everything amendment to HB2789 that was adopted in a Senate committee on Wednesday violates the Arizona Constitution by limiting the Commission's authority to set utility rates.
The Arizona Corporation Commission decided three years ago that homebuilders should pay the cost of extending power lines to new houses, but some lawmakers now want to go back to the way things used to be and force utility companies to foot the bill. Landowners and groups that represent contractors, such as the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, argue that requiring homebuilders to pay for the power line extensions has stunted growth, especially in rural areas where home sites are less likely to be situated near preexisting power lines. And they've found an ally in Sen. Sylvia Allen, a Snowflake Republican who has sponsored a bill to reverse the Corporation Commission's policy.
Arizona has long been one of the fastest-growing states in the country. But debate over who pays for that growth has flared up after a series of decisions by the Arizona Corporation Commission that put the bill squarely in the hands of the builders. In July 2007, the Corporation Commission reversed a policy of more than 50 years that forced Arizona Public Service, the largest energy provider in the state, to extend its power lines at no cost to any development within 1,000 feet of an existing line. Subsequent decisions in 2008 changed similar policies for Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services.
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